If They Only Knew
by Annabelle Graceton
Summary: Spin off to "If You Only Knew" which dives into the untold story of Chreah, showing what is going on behind the scenes between Leah and Chris and what kind of relationship they REALLY have :-p
1. Chapter 1: The First Time Ever I Saw You

_A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for checking out this new story! This was initially created for my best friend, aka Leah Tanner, for her Christmas present, but she decided to spread the Christmas cheer and allow me to share it with all of you :) If you haven't read the main story_ (**_If You Only Knew_**_)__ yet, I highly suggest that you go do that now or else none of this will make sense to you. _

_A lot of you had made comments about the Chris/Leah relationship about how they should get together and so this is our fun little spin off story where fun things like that can happen :p I will be referencing to different chapters from the main story, of which I will list the chapters at the beginning of each section, so that you will be able to sneak back over to the main story and reread the chapters to get an idea of what's going on.  
_

_In this first chapter, it is referring to what is happening in chapters 7-9 in the main story. There are some fun little subtle connections between the two stories which is awesome :) I hope that you guys like this new story and please comment and let us know what you think and if you'd like me to continue with this secondary plot line :-p  
_

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Kaley would kill me if she ever found out the truth. But she can never find out. No one can. Everyone thinks that we're just friends. If they only knew what really happens when we're alone together, how we really feel about each other... well, I don't think that anyone would think of us the same way again. That's why they can never find out. They can never know the truth about me and Chris. They can never know that there was so much more behind that first kiss. My first Chris kiss. The first of many more to come, the many that no one else knows about but us.

That wasn't my only first to lose to him. Oh, if they only knew...

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Chapter One - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

If I'm being honest, it all started the very first day that we met.

Kaley had just moved behind the racks to hang up Darren's jacket when I heard a noise behind me. I quickly turned around to see what or who had caused it and an involuntary "Oh!" slipped from my lips. There standing before me was none other than my long time crush, _Christopher Paul Colfer_.

"Are you Kaley Grant?" he asked in his high, musical voice. I felt my heart start to hammer in my chest.

_This cannot be happening right now,_ I gasped to myself._ Chris is standing two feet in front of me and- Wait a second. Did he just ask me something? _I quickly broke out of my thoughts and looked at him. A light smile hung on his perfect lips as he stood there patiently, waiting for my response, and I couldn't help but stare, his beauty ensnaring me. His light brown hair was styled perfectly (as usual), matching his stylish, blue-vested _Marc Jacobs_ outfit which made his bright glasz eyes stand out even more than they usually did.

"That's not her," another voice sighed, making me suddenly aware of the other person standing just behind Chris. As his hand rose to scratch his curly head, it finally clicked in my mind who he was (yeah, it took me a couple of seconds). _Darren Criss_. The guy that my best friend was totally in love with but had just gotten her heart broken by.

"No, I'm not Kaley," I finally said, finding my voice again. "But she-" I quickly glanced back to where Kaley had gone and our eyes locked as I spotted her peeking out from behind the racks. She quickly shook her head, silently telling me that she didn't want to see him. I gave her a very subtle nod in return before turning back to the guys in front of me.

"But she's actually not here right now," I continued. "She had a _rough night_ last night, so she's not coming in until later."

"Now what?" Darren asked, looking very upset. The question was directed at Chris who brought his hand up to stroke his chin as he thought. His eyes slowly trailed back over to me and realization suddenly flashed through them.

"Oh, where are my manners!" he exclaimed, walking towards me and holding out his hand. "I'm Chris Colfer."

_Oh my gosh, what do I do?_ I started to panic as his hand reached out to me. And then an idea popped into my mind. _It's now or never, Leah..._

"I can see that," I replied, taking his hand. The initial touch slightly shocked me and I almost pulled my hand back in surprise. It was like that feeling when you touch metal and you shock yourself, but less painful and more exciting.

"I mean-I mean I know," I continued to stutter. "I know who you are." On a whim, I quickly took a small step back and bowed to him. Once I finished the bow, I noticed that Chris had a very surprised look on his face, and I almost chickened out of continuing, but I forced myself to keep going.

I quickly took a couple steps closer to him, so that I was almost uncomfortably close, and leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"I just want to let you know," I whispered softly. "Nobody has talent but you, none of the new artists."

When I pulled away, there was a huge grin on Chris' face.

"You've seen my _Lady Gaga_ interview with _Ellen_," he laughed. I felt an identical smile spread across my own face.

"Maybe once or twice," I admitted, blushing slightly. "I told myself that if I ever got to meet you that I would have to do that to you."

"Well, I'm glad you did," he smiled. "It made my day."

"Well, that just made my day then," I replied. "This is so surreal."

"Umm, you can let go of my hand now..." Chris chuckled lightly. I looked down at our still clasped hands and quickly let go. It had felt so comfortable there that I had forgotten that I was still holding his hand.

"Sorry," I mumbled, hanging my head. "I honestly didn't mean to do that..."

"No worries," Chris smiled. "Miss...?"

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Tanner, Leah Tanner."

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Leah Tanner," he said as he suddenly gave me a small bow. I was inwardly freaking out by his actions. He was even more adorable and sweet in person than I had imagined he would be! I took a small, unnoticeable breath to calm myself. Though I was freaking out inside, I made sure to keep my outward appearance calm and collected. I didn't want my idol to be weirded out if I started freaking out in front of him.

_That would not be a very good first impression,_ I grinned to myself. Right at that second, Chris snuck a glance up at me and caught my smile, making him smile as well.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mister Chris Colfer," I beamed. Our eyes locked and I felt my heart skip a beat.

I couldn't look away from his beautiful, entrancing eyes...

But then Darren suddenly shifted, causing our eye contact to break. Chris blinked his eyes as if waking from a trance as he turned to look at Darren.

_Did he feel it too?_ I wondered as Darren stepped towards me.

"Hi Leah, I'm Darren Criss," he said, extending his hand towards me. I felt a small spark of anger flare up inside me.

_You just ruined the moment!_ I silently scolded him. _First for Kaley, and now for me! _

"Yes, I know who _you _are," I retorted, glaring at him. I didn't want to, but after a second, I slowly reached out and took his hand. "I'm Kaley Grant's _best friend_." I instantly let his hand go, watching it drop as I let my words sink in. His face paled and his eyes widened.

"Please, let me explai-" he started, but I quickly cut him off.

"You don't have to explain anything to me," I snapped. "Kaley's the one who should get some answers." I quickly lowered my voice before continuing.

"You hurt her, you know," I said softly. "Do you have any idea what it's like to meet your hero and then to have them basically rip your heart out and step on it repeatedly?"

My eyes slowly flickered over to Chris and I noticed that he was staring at me with an odd expression.

_It's like how I felt when I found out that you were gay,_ I silently told him before my eyes flickered back to Darren, who looked like he was cringing.

"I feel horrible," Darren replied, hanging his head. "I was having a bad day and I took it out on her. I don't know what happened. I just... snapped, you know?" He sighed as he looked back up, running his fingers through his short curly hair.

"I never meant to hurt her," he continued. "Honestly, if there was any way that I could take it all back, I would. That was probably the cruelest that I've ever been in my entire life and I cannot stop kicking myself for my actions. When I realized what I had done, I felt sick to my stomach. I know that there is no way that I can ever make it up to her, but I'm willing to try. Could you give these to her when she gets in?" He held out a bouquet of flowers that I hadn't noticed he was holding.

I was just about to reply with something kind of rude when another voice entered the conversation.

"That won't be necessary," Kaley's voice announced from behind me.

_Good timing,_ I thought as Kaley stepped up beside me.

"You must be Kaley," Chris was the first one to speak as he smoothly walked over to Kaley and held out his hand to her. "I'm Chris Colfer."

"It's an honour to meet you," she smiled as she took his hand. "You have an _amazing _voice and are so talented. Honestly, the majority of my favourite songs on the show are ones that you do because I just love hearing your voice."

"Oh, why thank you!" he blushed, making my stomach churn slightly. What was that? Was I jealous?

"You are too sweet," he continued, turning back to her. "But speaking of _sweet people_, there's someone here who would like to say something to you." He started to move away, but then he stopped suddenly and whispered something in her ear. He gently patted her shoulder and gave her a light smile before moving away, turning her attention to Darren. As Darren started talking to Kaley, I turned my own attention back on Chris.

_Holy cow, he is so much hotter in person,_ I thought as my eyes ran over his chiseled jaw line. My eyes trailed across his facial features before slowly moving up to his eyes, which I suddenly realized were on me. I blushed as I realized that I had just been caught checking him out. He grinned at me suddenly, tilting his head to the side slightly as he stared at me, which made me blush even harder.

"Can I borrow that?" Chris asked, suddenly turning back to Darren and taking something from his hands. A notebook. He quickly jotted something down on it and then carefully ripped the page out. With another grin, he handed the page to me, which I slowly took with a slightly shaking hand.

"I look forward to talking with you girls again," Chris smiled, giving us a little _wiggling fingers_ wave, as well as a slight, almost unnoticeable wink in my direction, before he turned and looped his arm through Darren's and proceeded to pull him out of the room.

Once he was gone, I finally remembered how to breathe again. It took me a couple of seconds before I was finally able to look down at the page that Chris had given me, and when I did, I nearly stopped breathing again.

"Kaley," I called out in a shaky voice. She slowly turned towards me and I noticed that her eyes were bulging and her mouth was hanging open in shock. It took me a second to realize that I was doing the same thing.

"Kaley, I'm gleeking out right now," I eeked softly, staring back down at the paper again. There, in my hands, I held Chris' phone number.

_He gave me his __**freaking phone number**__!_ I wanted to scream and squeal and do summersaults all over the room. I quickly glanced over at Kaley to find her staring numbly at the paper in her own hands.

_Darren must have given her his number too,_ I realized.

"Kaley?" I said again, trying to catch her attention. "Did you not hear me? I'm _gleeking_ out!"

"Leah..." she replied slowly, turning back to me, a smile slowly creeping onto her lips. "I think I just gleeked all over the place!" My face lit up with a smile as I started to laugh at the inside joke between the two of us.

"If I'm dreaming, please don't pinch me," Kaley begged once we had stopped laughing. "This is too nice of a dream to wake up from."

_I know how you feel,_ I thought.

"It's not a dream, Kaley," I squeaked. "It's real! It's all real! Kaley, we now have Darren Criss' and Chris Colfer's phone numbers!"

"Then why are we currently not frantically trying to add them to our phones?" she asked with a light smirk. I looked at her and our eyes locked. We simultaneously pulled our phones out of our pockets and quickly began to insert the numbers into them, briefly trading papers so that we could added the other's number too.

"I want that back," I said, pointing at the paper that was now in Kaley's hand. There was no way that I was going to lose that paper. At the time, it was just because it was from Chris and it was the closest thing to his autograph that I had. Little did I know that that paper would be the beginning of something beautiful.


	2. Chapter 2: Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

_A/N: This chapter will focus on what happened in chapters 13-15 in the main story. Enjoy! :)  
_

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Chapter Two - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

It took me a while to muster up the courage to actually text Chris. It wasn't until Kaley came flying back into the room after going confront Darren that I was finally convinced to do it.

"Leah!" she exclaimed, almost out of breath, as she crashed back into the laundry room.

"I'm here!" I said, instantly moving to her side. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Leah," she said through gasps for air, grabbing my shoulders and turning me so that I was facing towards her. "I think I just got a date with Darren!"

"A date?" I sputtered with surprise. _You just formally met him today and you've already got a date with him? I haven't even talked to Chris yet!_ I didn't say any of that out loud because I didn't want to rain on her parade.

"Well, kind of," she replied sheepishly, blushing slightly as she let go of me "I told him if he even needed an ice cream buddy that I knew a place nearby and he said that he'd have to take me up on that offer sometime... That counts as a date, right? Or am I just making this all up in my head? Oh gosh, I'm making it all up in my head, aren't I?"

"Kaley!" I exclaimed, grabbing her shoulders this time and shaking her. "Settle! Yes, maybe you could be making it all up in your head, but then again, maybe you're not. Maybe Darren is totally into you. Maybe your heartbroken tears made him realize that he had just unintentionally hurt the love of his life and now he has to win your heart back by courting you and showering you with gifts and praise."

"You're a dork," Kaley laughed, shoving me away.

"Maybe," I grinned. "But you're a bigger one and seeing as Darren's a dork too, I think that you two would fit perfectly together. Just promise me that when you two do hook up and get married that you'll set me up with Chris."

_If we aren't together already,_ I grinned inwardly.

"I promise," she giggled. "And the same goes for you and Chris."

"Deal," I laughed as well.

_Wouldn't that be dream come true for both of us? _I thought to myself as Kaley turned her attention back on her work. _Kaley'd get to date the man of her dreams, and I'd get to date mine... The only problem is, my dream guy is gay. How will that work out then? Will it end up being Kaley and Darren being the ones to fall in love, leaving me and Chris as just being friends?_

As much as I loved Kaley, it was hard to see her starting to get her dream guy, while I would probably never even have a chance with mine. The best I could hope for was to become super close, possibly even best friends, with Chris. But I didn't just want friendship. I wanted to be _loved_.

That feeling grew later that night when Darren came back with Kaley and stayed late to help us wash the costumes. It stung slightly as I snuck glances over at them to find them laughing and smiling with each other. I felt a little left out and it hurt. As soon as Darren left though, I had to put on a happy face, for Kaley's sake. She was my best friend and I couldn't let my own sorrow ruin her happiness.

James showing up did not help my unhappy feelings. Dating James was one of the biggest regrets that I had. When he had showed interest in me, I had jumped at the chance to be with him. I wanted to feel loved. But though I wanted to feel loved, I couldn't give up my first kiss to him. Something held me back, which I am thankful for now. Someone much more special ended up getting my first kiss, someone who deserved it a lot more than James ever would.

It hurt to tell Kaley the truth about James, something which I had been hiding from her, but it also felt good to finally tell her the truth about him. Opening up about him, opening up about feelings that I kept hidden, finally helped push me to take a chance with Chris. After sliding into the limo that Darren had so chivalrously sent for us, I finally pulled out my phone and sent my first ever text to Chris.

Me: _Hi_

Chris: _Hi! ... Ummm who is this? :p_

Me: _Opps sorry! It's Leah :)_

Chris: _Oh! Hi Leah! :D_

Me: _I just thought that I should text you so that you could have my number too, if you ever wanted to text me or talk to me or whatever_

Chris:_ Awesome :) Thank you. I will be sure to do that :p Darren can get pretty boring to talk to hehe_

Me: _Roommate?_

Chris: _Uh huh_

Me: _I know what that's like. I love Kaley to death but sometimes it seems like all we ever talk about are the same things!_

Chris: _Which are?_

I paused for a second before I answered him back. Should I be truthful or should I scoot around the truth?

Me: _**Glee**__ mostly :p we're both pretty big fans of the show... and of you and Darren :p_

Me: _... I didn't scare you off, did I?_

Chris:_ Haha no, sorry. I set my phone down to help Darren with something_

Chris: _Got a little worried there, did you? :p_

Me: _No!_

Me:_ ...maybe_

Me: :p

Chris: _You're adorable :p_

I had to reread that text about ten time before I was able to calm down enough to reply.

Me: _awww shucks! I'm blushing now :p_

Chris: _You're cute when you blush :)_

_Oh my gosh!_ I screamed inwardly. _Did he really just say that?_

Me: _Well then I just got a whole lot more cuter (#^_^#)_

Chris: _Ah! That is too cute! I'm stealing that! (^_^)_

Me: _*gasp!* I can't believe that you would steal from me, Chris!_

Chris: _I can't help it! I love cute things!_

_Does that mean that you love me?_ I chuckled to myself. _Since you think I'm cute?_

Me: _What does that say about how you feel about me then? ;p_

Chris: _I guess that I'm going to have to steal you away then too ;p_

_Please,_I silently prayed.

Me: _Gotta catch me first! :p_

Chris: _Game on! ;p_

Me: _Haha good luck! :p _

Chris: _I don't need luck. I'm just that awesome! ;p_

Me: _Sure you are, NPH :p_

Chris: _Haha HIMYM nice :p_

Me: _I thought so ;p_

Me: _I should let you get to sleep. First show tomorrow._

Chris: _Alright :( _

Chris: _I'll see you tomorrow?_

Me: _For sure :)_

Chris: _Awesome :D Night Leah! Sweet dreams! :)_

Me: _Night Chris :D You too :p_

And so it began.


	3. Chapter 3: Can't Fight This Feeling

_A/N: This chapter focuses on the events in chapters 16 & 17 of the main story._

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Chapter Three - Can't Fight This Feeling

I wasn't sure when I should text Chris the following day. I didn't want to seem too anxious by texting him before he even got to the theatre, but I had no way of knowing when he was going to get here. Luckily, Kaley was able to help me with that.

"Darren and Chris are here," Kaley said suddenly, making me look up from the clothes I was folding.

"How do you know?" I asked, my eyes flickering towards the open door.

"They just passed by and Darren waved at me," she grinned.

"Oh, that's nice," I replied nonchalantly as I slowly pulled my phone from my pocket.

Me: _So Kaley gets a good morning wave from Darren, but I don't get one from you? I'm hurt! :(_

Chris: _Well if I did that, then it would ruin my sneak attack plan!_

Chris: _... opps_

Chris: _I guess that just ruined it!_

I had to be careful not to giggle out loud. I didn't want to alert Kaley to what I was doing. I carefully picked up the pants that I had just folded and set them down on the table that was behind me before I replied.

Me: _Haha yep, I think that did ruin any chance for a sneak attack :p_

Chris: _Don't be so sure ;P_

I was slightly puzzled by his response and was about to text him back, asking what he meant, when suddenly a pair of airs wrapped around my waist and lifted me into the air.

"Gotcha!" a familiar voice declared.

"Eek!" I squealed. "Chris! Put me down!" My back was pressed against his stomach, so when he started to laugh, I was able to feel it before I heard it.

"Only if you admit that I was right and that I am awesome," he laughed, swinging me slightly for added effect.

"Alright! Alright!" I exclaimed. "You were right! You are awesome! Now put me down!" With another laugh, Chris finally set me down and let me go. I immediately spun around to face him to find that he had a huge, triumphant grin on his face.

"Ok so why are you right?" I asked, crossing my arms self-consiously over my chest.

"Because I told you that I would catch you!" he grinned. "Remember? I didn't need any luck because I'm just _that_ awesome?"

"That's not fair!" I huffed. "I wasn't ready!"

"All's fair in love and war, hun," he laughed, flashing me another bright smile.

_Good Lord, you're so gorgeous when you smile!_ I sighed to myself.

"So," Chris said, pulling my attention away from his smile. "What are you two up to?"

"Getting your outfits ready for the show," Kaley answered, holding up a t-shirt to prove her point. It was a bright blue shirt that Jenna Ushkowitz wore in the _True Colours_ number.

"Oh fun," Chris replied, picking up a _Starbucks_ cup off of one of the other tables and then hopping up onto the table beside me. He patted the empty space beside him, motioning for me to sit with him. "So you two would be the ones I'd go to if say I got a rip in my pants?"

_I'd fix that for you in a heart beat,_ I thought with a grin.

"Yep," I nodded. "We are your go-to girls."

"Good to know," he grinned, taking a sip from his coffee. "Do you want some?" He held the cup out to me suddenly, which surprised me. _Chris Colfer_ was offering to share his coffee with _me_? I'd be touching the same spot that his lips had touched! It was like the closest thing to a kiss that I could ever get from him!

"S-Sure," I smiled, taking the offered cup and taking a sip. I had to force myself to swallow the liquid. I wasn't an overly huge fan of coffee. I ususally needed it to have a lot of spoonfuls of sugar before I was actually able to enjoy the bitter liquid, but when Chris Colfer offers you a sip of his coffee, you _don't _say no. I just couldn't pass up an opportunity like that.

"Thanks," I said as I handed him the cup back. As soon as it was passed to his hand, he immediately raised it to his own lips and took a small sip. He closed his eyes and smiled as the liquid slid down his throat. I watched as his Adam's apple moved up and then back down and felt my stomach twist into a knot as my heart did a front flip.

_Why do you have to be gay?_ I whined as I stared at him. _You are too gorgeous to be gay! It's not right! It's not __**fair**__!_ I nearly stopped breathing as I watched him slide his tongue across his lips.

_If only he was doing that to __**my **__lips,_ I sighed to myself. Little did I know, but he was thinking the same thing.

* * *

**Chris' POV**

I watched as she took a sip from my cup. Normally, I wouldn't have ever let anyone take a sip from my cup, but for some reason, I really wanted her to. I smiled as she handed the cup back to me, saying a small "thanks" as she did so. The second that the cup was in my hand, I immediately brought it up to my lips and took a sip of my own. But it wasn't the coffee that I wanted to taste.

_It tastes like... cherries,_ I smiled to myself, closing my eyes as I swallowed the coffee so that I could focus on the cherry taste. I slowly let my tongue slip out and slid across my lips, trying to transfer the cherry taste to them. I wanted to savour that taste... but why? Why did I want to savour it?

As I brought the cup to my lips again and tasted the cherry again, I suddenly pictured my lips touching Leah's.

_What am I thinking?!_ I suddenly panicked. _Why am I thinking like this?! Leah is a __**girl**__! I like __**guys**__! What's going on with me?_ I slowly opened my eyes again and looked back at Leah, who instantly looked away as she started to blush. There it was again. That feeling. I never got that feeling when I was around girls, only when I was around hot guys. The guys in my _Glee_ family were different because I was used to them and even with Darren I never felt like this.

It's hard not to have feelings for a guy when you have to kiss him and pretend to be his boyfriend for hours at a time, but that was just it. It was all pretend. Darren was as straight as an arrow, though sometimes his actions made me question just how straight he was, and I was finally able to calm my feelings for him. But now this with Leah... It was like nothing I'd ever felt before and I had absolutely no idea what to do about it.

_It's the way that she looks at me,_ I realized as Leah's pretty blue eyes looked up at me. _It's the way that she looks at me and then looks away, trying to pretend that she wasn't looking at me even though she was. It's the way that her cheeks turn pink when I catch her looking at me. It's the way that she sends playful texts to me. Oh man, I'm starting to sound like Darren now, obsessing over that girl of his and- Oh my gosh! Do I have __**feelings**__ for Leah?_

I snuck another glance at her and my heart suddenly did a flip flop as I caught her looking at me again. But this time, she didn't look away. It was like when we had first met and our eyes locked on each others'. I started to feel myself getting lost in her eyes. They were so beautiful...

"Well, hello there, Blaine," Kaley suddenly laughed, snapping us both out of the trance and drawing both of our attentions to her and the person who was now standing in the doorway. "You haven't happened to have seen Darren, have you? We've been wondering where he's at."

I quickly took another sip from my cup as Darren's gaze turned to me. I raised an eyebrow at him questioningly, but then smiled suddenly as I realized what he was going to do. He was going to ask Kaley out.

_What would happen if I ask Leah out? _I wondered. _Would she freak out? What would she say?_

"Actually, I have seen him," Darren replied, turning back to Kaley. "He was looking for you to ask if you wanted to go for ice cream between shows today."

A loud sigh slipped from Kaley's lips as she gave her response, which shocked all of us.

"I can't," she said sadly.

"You can't?" Darren echoed, sounding hurt and surprised. "But why not?"

"Darren," she sighed, beckoning me further into the room. "What would you usually do between shows?"

"I don't know," he replied, scratching his head as he thought.

"Exactly!" she exclaimed. "You don't have anything that you have to do between shows. I do. We've only got a few hours to freshen everyone's clothes for the next show, which means that I don't have any free time to spare. As much as I would love to go with you today, I just can't. I have to think about my responsibilities first."

"Can't Leah just do it by herself, just this once?" I was surprised by Darren's selfish question, raising my eyebrows in surprise. I snuck a glance over at Leah, who looked just as surprised.

"You know that I can't do that," Kaley sighed. "That wouldn't be fair to Leah, and with the time constraint that we have, we'll need all the time that we can get. Can I take a raincheck?"

"I guess," Darren sighed, pouting his lip slightly. I felt bad for him, not being able to spend time alone with the girl that he liked.

_Wait a second..._

"No, you should go," I said suddenly. "You go, and I'll stay and help Leah."

"You will?" everyone turned to look at me, apparently surprised by my offer.

"Sure," I smiled, leaning over and bumping Leah with my shoulder. "I don't mind helping this one with some laundry. As long as she doesn't mind..."

"I'm totally cool with that," Leah jumped in quickly, smiling at me. I gave her a quick, little wink, which caused her to blush. She quickly brought her hand up to cover her mouth as a small giggle slipped from her lips.

_That is so cute, _I smiled, relaxing slightly as she looked up at me with sparkling eyes. _**She's**__ so cute._

"Besides," I continued, reluctantly turning my attention back on Darren and Kaley. "I have some free time since it's not likely that I'd be going with you. I know that you guys probably don't want a third wheel on your _date_."

"It's not a date!" Darren exclaimed, clearly frustrated. His sudden outburst shocked me and I gave him a surprised look, raising my eyebrows at him as my eyes darted back and forth between him and Kaley as if to say, "Umm, Darren? She's _right_ there!" He instantly clued in and turned back to her, going into damage control mode.

"I mean, like, it's not a _date _date," he stammered, a little flustered. "If you call two friends going for ice cream a date, then sure, it's a date." I just rolled my eyes at his attempted cover up.

"I'm sorry, Kaley," I said, taking over. "I tend to label any type of outing as a date, a bad habit which Darren has been trying to help me break. And sometimes he speaks before he thinks, so him telling me off might have come across as rude, but please don't think that it was because of you. He's just trying to help me."

"Yeah, sorry about that, Kaley," Darren turned back to her. "I really wasn't thinking when I said that. I didn't realize how it might have sounded to you."

"That's okay," she smiled tentatively.

"So, ice cream?" he asked.

"It's a date," she laughed, quickly turning to me. "The _friend _kind of date, not a _date _date."

"Thank you for the clarification," I forced myself to laugh, giving Darren a side glance. He mouthed the words "thank you" to me and I gave him a slight nod as if to say, "uh huh, you're welcome".

I decided that I wasn't needed in their conversation anymore, so I turned my attention back to Leah.

"So," I said, grabbing her attention by nudging her shoulder with mine. "What do you think?"

"About?" she asked, tilting her head at me quizzically.

"Them," I smiled, slightly nodding my head in their direction.

"I think that there's more going on there then they will admit," she replied honestly with a small smirk. "Sometimes people don't realize that what they truly want is standing right in front of them."

"So true," I agreed, nodding my head. "Sometimes people won't admit to how they feel about someone because they're afraid of what will happen when the truth comes out."

"I feel bad for people like that," Leah replied softly. "Because since they're so afraid, they could end up missing out on something really great."

"Because they're afraid to take a risk," I said softly. "They're afraid of taking chances, afraid of what could happen. Fear of the unknown, right?"

"Right," she nodded. "Fear of being rejected. Fear of getting hurt."

"Yeah..." I slowly looked away. I could feel my heart hammering in my chest. Were we passing subtle comments about how we really felt or were we just stating common facts? As I looked away, I noticed that we were now alone.

"Umm, well, I guess that I should go get ready for the show now," I said, hopping down off the table. "I'll see you after the show?"

"Sounds good to me," she smiled, hopping down as well.

"Great!" I smiled. "Then it's a date."

Then room went silent for a moment.

"Uh, right, yeah," she stammered after a couple seconds. "I'll see you then."

"Bye," I forced a smile onto my lips as I hurriedly slipped out the door. As soon as I was gone from site, I stopped and leaned back against the wall.

_Did I really just say 'it's a date?' _I palmed my forehead. _What is going on with me? Or I guess the real question is, what kind of date did I want it to be, a __**friend**__ date or a __**date **__date? _I smiled sadly as I realized that I already knew the answer.

_There's only one kind of date that I want to have with Leah. And that's a __**date**__ date. _

* * *

_A/N: Thank you to all of you who are already supporting this story! Thank you to **Place In This World**, _**AmyRodgers**, **LeahEmmaLynnColfer**, **Liveforblueandredties**, **Penelope Elizabeth Anne Sna****pe**, **harleyquinn2587**, **nomorecandle****s**, **SkittlesPanda**, **Softballgirl5640**, **CamillaS**, and **drobrien** for either following, favouriting, or both. Thank you to those of you who have commented and already love and support the secretive Chreah relationship. If you can think of any other cute ship names for them, please leave me a comment with your ideas! And I'd love to hear what you think about the new chapter! :)


	4. Chapter 4: Torn

_A/N: This chapter focuses on the events in chapter 19.  
_

* * *

Chapter Four - Torn

**Leah's POV**

I know that it's a horrible thing to say about your best friend, but I couldn't wait for Kaley to leave. Once she was gone off on her date with Darren, which yes, totally was a date date, then I would be all alone with Chris. I couldn't help but sigh happily.

_Nobody pinch me,_ I sighed dreamily to myself. _If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up!_

Part of me was in denial that anything could happen between Chris and I. After all, he was out and proud and I was very clearly _not _a male. Why would he even consider a girl like me? But still, even just being _friends_ with him would be totally amazing! It had always been him that I had fallen in love with, not his character or his looks (even though he looked _fine_!), but rather it was him himself. His personality, his witty remarks, just him in general. After watching countless interviews of him, I just knew that I had to meet him someday. And now, here I was, waiting anxiously with Kaley for our "_dates_" to arrive.

"They're on their last song," I commented, hearing the music for _Don't Stop Believin' _play over the speaker system. Kaley didn't respond and I knew that it wasn't because she hadn't heard me, but rather that she was purposely ignoring me. The fact that she wasn't reacting to my nudges were proof of that.

"_I said_, they're on their last song," I repeated, nudging her a little harder.

"What, can't wait to get rid of me so that you can have Chris all to yourself?" Kaley remarked, teasingly.

"How did you know?" I gasped loudly. I made sure to make it overly dramatic so that it would cover the anxious feeling that bubbled in my chest. I _couldn't_ wait to be alone with Chris. Not that I'd ever admit that to Kaley though. Thankfully, my ruse worked and she started laughing, making me instantly join in with her.

"But seriously," I said once we had settled down. "Aren't you excited for your date?" There were two reasons I asked that question. One, I was genuinely curious. Two, I wanted to steer the conversation away from the topic of Chris. I was too afraid that I might say something that I could regret later.

"It's not a date," Kaley rolled her hazel brown eyes at me. "He doesn't think of me that way."

"Kaley, it is _totally_ a date!" I exclaimed, trying to encourage her. "He's _totally _into you!"

"How do you know?" Kaley sighed. I had to force myself not to roll my eyes at her. I loved Kaley to death, but she could be very doubtful, especially when it came to herself.

"I've got a sense for these things," I smiled.

"Sure you do," she laughed, rolling her eyes again. "So tell me then, Miss Senser, is Chris into you?"

"Well, I... Uh..." I sputtered. I could feel my eyes widening in panic as I was caught off guard by her question.

"Just what I thought," Kaley laughed. "If you can't even tell if your own guy likes you or not, then how can you say that mine likes me?"

"Because it's just one of those best friend things where I just know!" I exclaimed with a huff.

"But how do you know?" Kaley argued.

"I just know!" I exclaimed again, starting to get a bit frustrated with her. Seriously, sometimes Kaley could just _not_ take the hint to drop something!

"But-" she started to say.

"Oh girls, you're so silly!" a voice came from the doorway. We both looked up to find Chris leaning casually in the doorway. Neither of us had noticed that the song had ended, allowing Chris to be able to sneak up on us. My heart started to pound in overtime as I saw him.

"H-How long have you been standing there?" I asked nervously. I wasn't totally sure if I wanted to know the answer to that though. What if he had heard me and Kaley talking about him?

_Oh my gosh, what if he heard Kaley refer to him as __**my guy**__?_ I groaned silently to myself, hoping that this was not the case.

"Oh, long enough," he laughed, giving me a little wink that made me blush heavily. There was a bright sparkle in his eyes that told me that he heard a lot more than I would have wanted him to.

"Ready for your date?" Chris asked, turning his attention over on Kaley, allowing me the chance to regain the ability to breath again. The way that Chris looked at me literally took my breath away. The way that his lips parted as he breathed, the soft, plump, pink skin breaking away to show a bare glimpse of his dazzling white teeth. The way that his eyes flickered over my body, as if he was checking me out, though he wouldn't be doing that. That would just be ridiculous to think that! But yet, I couldn't help the small flutter of hope every time that he snuck a glance over at me.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I barely had time to register the fact that Kaley was leaving the room with Darren, whom I hadn't even notice come in.

"See you later, Kales!" I waved goodbye as she followed Darren out the door. Dang, I was so jealous of her! Why was she able to go out on a date with Darren Criss, possibly getting the chance to fall in love with him, while I was stuck back here with the man that I was hopelessly in love with but had absolutely no chance with?

"You two have fun!" Chris called out after them, to which Darren replied with a, "oh, we will!"

And then we were alone.

Chris slowly turned back to me, a smile gracing his lips, making him look even more gorgeous than he normally did.

"So," he said, still smiling. "What do you need me to do?"

_Oh, right,_ I sighed to myself. _He's here to help with the laundry. _I instantly felt foolish to think that anything would really come from this time alone together. Chris was most likely just doing Darren a favour, taking one for the team. Though we had seemed to be bonding pretty well before...

I sighed heavily as I tried to push my depressing thoughts away. Just getting any time to hang out with Chris would be worth it, even if it did mean that we would be spending it cleaning clothes.

_At least it`s time spent with him, _I told myself.

"Umm, those clothes over there can be folded and placed into piles over here," I said, pointing at the hamper on one of the tables.

"Okay," he replied, smiling brightly. He seemed eager to help, which was nice.

We worked in silence for a couple of minutes before I finally worked up the nerve to talk to him.

"So," I said, taking a deep breath. "What does Brian think of you being away for two weeks?" Chris looked up in surprise at my question and I was instantly worried that I had overstepped.

"Brian wasn't very happy," he laughed after a moment. Good Lord, that sound was music to my ears. "He kind of gave me an evil glare when I left. But he's staying at my mom's place, so I know he's probably getting spoiled like crazy. I think he'll forgive me for being away for so long."

"I'm sure that if you brought him back something special, he'd forgive you and resume curling up on top of your laptop, disrupting your writing," I teased back, laughing lightly as well. "He doesn't want you to finish any of your writing because if you did, then you would become even more famous and even have less time for him. I believe that there is a method to his adorableness."

"He gets it from me," Chris remarked, grinning. "The adorableness, I mean."

_Does he ever!_ I couldn't help but think.

"So what about you?" Chris asked suddenly. "Do you have any pets?"

"Not here," I shook my head sadly. "Our landlady won't let us have a pet in the apartment, so we are currently petless. Hopefully someday we'll be able to get a new place where we can have pets. Kaley wants to get a little dog. I'm kind of torn between wanting a puppy or a kitten. Maybe I'll just have to get both."

"Make sure that they get along though!" Chris chuckled. "Or else you will _never_ be able to get any work done or get any sleep! Brian is very picky when it comes to who he likes and who he doesn't."

"I'd love to meet him someday," I sighed, not realizing that I had said it out loud.

"I'd love for you to meet him," Chris smiled. "If you ever find yourself in L.A., you should totally come by my place and meet him."

"I would love that!" I exclaimed, my heart skipping a beat. Chris had just invited me to come to his house! Was I dreaming?

"Me too," he replied softly, almost too quietly for me to hear.

_Was I meant to hear that? _I wondered, blinking with surprise as Chris turned his attention away from me and back on the clothes in the hamper in front of him. _Or did I just imagine that he said that? _

As I stared at Chris, I noticed his cheeks turn a slight shade of pink.

_No, I didn't imagine it,_ I realized with surprise. _He really wants me to come to his house... Ohmygosh! __**Chris**__ wants __**me **__to come to __**his house**__!_

I think I just died a little inside.

* * *

**Chris' POV**

_Crap, did I really just say that out loud?_ I panicked, sneaking a subtle side glance at Leah. She was looking at me with surprise, which instantly gave me my answer. How could I have been so careless to let that slip? I was usually so good at keeping myself calm and collected. Then why was I slipping up in front of Leah?

_Because you like her,_ my subconscious poked at me. _You like her, even though you won't admit it!_

_Yes, I do like Leah,_ I snapped back. _She's a very nice __**girl**__. She seems like she'd be a very sweet __**friend **__to have._

_Yeah, now put those two words together,_ my subconscious teased.

_Hush!_ I scolded, though I instantly felt stupid for it. I was literally fighting with myself. _This is ridiculous! Leah is __**just **__a friend. Nothing more. _

_But you'd like it to be more,_ my subconscious pushed.

"So, how long have you been living in New York?" I asked, trying to distract myself from my internal argument.

"For about a year now," Leah replied. "Kaley and I moved here together to chase our dreams. I wanted to work in the theatre, work for big Broadway shows, and Kaley wanted to be a writer, an author, like you."

"Oh really?" I smiled. I would have to convince Kaley to let me see her work sometime. "Where did you two move from?"

"Toronto," she smiled as well.

"Canada?" I blinked with surprise. "You're _Canadian_?"

"Yes," she laughed. "Got a problem with that?"

"No," I laughed, shaking my head. "The exact opposite, actually. I _love _Canadians." I instantly scolded myself on my word choice, but the words were already out there. "I mean, the Canadian fans are always so nice and we have Cory on the show, who's Canadian. Man, he's going to love you two then! He feels a little homesick sometimes, surrounded by all of us Americans, though I'm sure I'm part British too. I just know that I must be a descendant of the Queen. It's somewhere there in my bloodline, I just know it!"

"I'm sure you are," she giggled. I couldn't ignore how my heart skipped a beat at the beautiful sound.

_Why do I feel this way? _I wondered as I watched her face light up. _And why does she have to look so darn cute?_


	5. Chapter 5: Good Vibrations

___A/N: This chapter focuses on the events in chapter 20 of the main story._

* * *

Chapter Five - Good Vibrations

**Leah's POV**

Our time together seemed to pass by _way_ too quickly. Before we knew it, it was nearing time for the second show.

"Thanks for staying and helping me," I said as we walked down to the dressing rooms with the last of the clothes. "It was really nice just getting to know you. I've always thought that you would be an interesting person to know."

"Did you now?" Chris grinned. "Well, that's sweet of you to say. I think that your a pretty _interesting_ person yourself." He gently bumped me with his elbow, making me giggle.

Why did he have to be so darn cute?!

_And so darn unavailable,_ I reminded myself sadly.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Chris asked, noticing the change in my expression. I froze for a second, not sure what to say. I obviously couldn't tell him the truth about why I was upset, so I had to come up with an excuse fast.

"I just had so much fun hanging out with you," I sighed. "I'm sad that it's over."

"Hey, it's not over!" Chris exclaimed. "We're friends now! And I'm here for _two weeks_! We'll have _plenty _of time to hang out between now and when the show ends! And hopefully even after it does..."

He trailed off with a hopeful tone to his voice, which made my heart skip a beat. Chris _wanted_ to hang out with me more!

_This is just so __**unreal**__!_ I thought. _Who'd of ever thought that I would become friends with __**Christopher freaking Colfer**__!_

"Maybe one of these nights after the show we could get together and watch a movie or someth-"

"Colfer!" a voice echoed down the hallway. We both stopped and turned towards the voice to see Ryan Murphy storming towards us.

"Have you seen Darren?" he asked, glancing behind us as if he was looking for the man in question.

"N-No," Chris shook his head, confused. "He went out with Kaley a few hours ago. I thought that they would have been back by now..."

"Kaley?" Ryan blinked with surprise, apparently recognizing her name. "Wasn't she the girl that-"

"Yes," Chris cut him off with a nod. "She is. Darren apologized and they're friends now."

"Well, I don't know how great of a _friend_ she is if she makes Darren late for the show!" Ryan grumbled under his breath as he turned away. Chris and I exchanged a worried glance.

_Where are they? _I wondered, quickly pulling out my phone and dialing her number. After a few rings, it went to voicemail.

"She's not picking up," I frowned.

"Darren either," Chris said, lowering his phone as well, a worried expression crossing his face. "I hope that nothing happened to them..."

"I'm sure their fine," I said quickly, not really believing my own words. I glanced down at my phone, firing off a quick text of "Where are you?" to Kaley.

"Well, I should probably go get ready..." Chris commented absentmindedly, turning away and heading back towards the dressing rooms again, his head lowered as he stared at his phone. I frowned, slightly upset that our time had been cut off so abruptly.

_But there will be more times to hang out, _I reminded myself, continuing on down the hallway to deliver the last few costumes to their designated dressing rooms. Once they were delivered, I slowly made my way to the stage. I glanced down at my ring watch, which I thought was totally epic and _way_ better than the lame, normal wristwatch that Kaley wore 24/7, and saw that it was 6:50.

_I wonder if Darren and Kaley have shown up yet..._ I mused. My question was quickly answered by Ryan's loud voice echoing down the hallway.

"_Darren Criss_!" his voice sounded _very_ angry. "_Do you realize what time it is_?!" I slowly crept forward, peeking around the corner to see Ryan standing in front of a determined looking Darren and a very scared looking Kaley. Darren suddenly started walking away from Ryan, Kaley quickly moving to follow, but was suddenly stopped by Ryan. Darren seemed to pause for a moment, but Kaley shooed him away before turning back to Ryan. I held my breath, waiting to see what would happen. Part of me wanted to intervene, but the other part was too scared to.

A sudden hand on my shoulder made me jump.

"Spying, are we?" Vicky chuckled as I spun around to face her.

"It's Kaley," I replied quickly, flashing a quick glance back around the corner. "Ryan's mad and I want to help her, but I don't know what to do."

"Kaley?" Vicky frowned. "Don't worry, I'll handle it. You go help the actors with their mic packs." She quickly moved past me and headed towards Ryan and Kaley. As I turned away to go to the stage as instructed, I heard Vicky's voice call out, "Kaley!" I smiled, knowing that I did at least help in some small way.

I passed through the doorway to the stage, quickly making my way over to where the mic packs were sitting.

"Can I get some help?" someone whispered in my ear. I smiled as I recognized the voice, quickly turning to face Chris.

I almost dropped the mic pack that I was holding.

Chris was in a nearly skin-tight black jumpsuit. The dark leather outfit clung to his skin tightly, accentuating his gorgeous body. I couldn't help how my eyes trailed down his body, not missing a single thing that his outfit showed off. And when I say that they didn't miss a thing, I mean they didn't miss _anything_.

"Enjoying the view?" Chris chuckled, snapping my attention back up to his eyes. I could feel my cheeks flush with heat, quickly averting my gaze to avoid his laughing eyes.

_Great, he must think that I'm such a freak!_ I panicked inwardly. _He totally knows that I was checking him out!_

"Could be better," I replied calmly, more calmly than I felt. Yet somehow I managed to pull off a nonchalant tone to my voice, playing it off as if I could care less about what he was wearing.

_Care... less... wear... less... _my mind suddenly started to picture how that body looked _without_ that tight outfit on.

_NO! Stop!_ I scolded myself, blinking quickly to erase those thoughts from my head. _I __**can't**__think like that! Come on, Leah! Be professional here!_

"Oh," Chris replied softly, looking away for a second, he seemed almost... was that disappointment? No, it couldn't be. Before I could puzzle over it further, he suddenly looked back at me with a smirk on his lips. "So, are you going to help me?"

I looked down at Chris' hands, which I now realized held a mic pack. I nodded, quickly setting down the one that I'd been holding and taking the one from him.

"Turn around," I said, earning myself a sly grin from Chris. I just rolled my eyes at him until he obeyed. Once his back was turned to me, I blushed again.

_Why is everything coming out so __**wrong**__ right now?_ I whined.

"I have to unzip you a bit to get the mic pack into your mic belt," I told him cautiously. "Is that okay?" I noticed Chris tense for a second, before he stiffly nodded. I carefully reached up and started to pull the zipper on the back of his outfit down. My stomach did crazy flip flops as I exposed the bare skin of his back.

_Oh my gosh, this is the first time that I've ever seen his bare back!_ I realized, trying to control my racing heart. And it was _perfect_. Perfect and flawless. I'd never considered backs to be beautiful before. I guess that there's a first time for everything.

"Umm, Leah?" Chris' voice broke through my thoughts. "Is there a problem?"

"Nope!" I replied quickly, carefully lowering the zipper a bit farther until I could see the mic belt. I slowly clipped the mic pack to the belt, being careful not to touch his back. I don't know if my heart would be able to take it if I did.

"There, all set!" I said, zipping him back up, careful not to catch the mic's wire as I did so. I handed him the headset to put on, which he did before turning back to face me with a smile.

"Thanks, Leah," he grinned. "What would I do without you?"

"Go on stage with your mic pack in your hand?" I joked, making him smile. His eyes suddenly flickered to something behind me.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up," he commented. I turned around to see Darren heading towards us. He smiled at us as he passed by, stopping at the table and picking up a mic pack.

"Be careful," Chris warned him. "Ryan's on a rampage looking for you."

"He already found me," Darren frowned, glancing back over at the door that he had just passed through. "And Kaley too..." He sighed as he looked down at the mic pack in his hands and absentmindedly wandered away, most likely to find someone to help him with it. I was about to call out to him to tell him that I could help him, but someone else beat me to it. I smiled as I watched Kaley move towards Darren and took the mic pack from him.

_I guess Vicky was able to "save" Kaley from Ryan after all,_ I thought to myself with a grin.

"Whatcha smiling about?" Chris asked, making me turn my attention back to him.

"Oh, just picturing how dorkish you'll look dancing in that," I teased, gesturing towards his outfit. "I mean, one pieces are _so_ out of fashion!" Chris frowned and pouted his lip, which looked _adorable_.

"I don't get to choose my outfits," Chris whined. "Cause if I did, I _most certainly_ would _not_ pick something this _tight_! I mean really! This things is _really_ tight!"

_I'm not complaining,_ I thought with a smirk. _If anything, it could be a little tighter right about-_

"Stop gawking at my amazing body and give me a hug for good luck!" Chris snapped me out of my naughty thoughts. I smiled, eagerly complying with his suggestion.

"Good luck!" I mumbled into his chest as his arms squeezed around me. "Don't mess up!"

"Oh, thanks for that!" Chris exclaimed, rolling his eyes. "That isn't going to psych me out at all!"

"I'm teasing!" I giggled, pushing him away. "Go! Wow your _fans_!" He smiled and gave me a slight bow, as if to say "As you wish", before turning away and going to take his place behind the curtain. I watched him go with a huge smile on my face. I could still feel the warm, ghosted presence of where his arms had been around me.

As I turned away to leave the wings, I noticed that Kaley was standing still, as if frozen in spot, facing the stage. With a slight chuckle, I walked over to her and placed my hands on her shoulders, quickly leading her away from the stage and out into the back hallway. I turned her around to face me and found that she wore a dazed expression on her face. Her eyes were glazed over, unseeing.

"Hello, earth to Kaley!" I said, snapping my fingers in front of her face. That seemed to bring her back as she blinked suddenly. Just for good measure, I decided to add, "Are you in there, Kaley?"

"Oh, shush," she laughed, batting my hand away, returning to her normal self.

"You okay?" I asked, laughing slightly. "You looked as if you had just been tasered with a stun gun."

"I think I might have been," she replied almost seriously. I tilted my head and gave her a questioning look, indicating for her to continue. She smiled slightly, looking up at me with a slight twinkle in her eye as she said, "I just got my first ever hug from Darren Criss!"

"And I got one from Chris!" I exclaimed, happily. "It looks like we are well on our way to making them fall in love with us!"

"Yeah, right!" Kaley laughed, picking up on the joking tone that I had used. "That'll be the day..."

"Yeah..." we both sighed as we turned to head back down the hallway to the laundry room.

_That would be the day,_ I thought to myself. _The day that all of my dreams would come true. Can you imagine it? Me and Chris. Chris and Leah. Leah and Chris. Chris and Leah Colfer. Leah Colfer... It has a nice ring to it... If only it could come true..._

* * *

**Chris' POV**

This was getting out of hand. Of course the second that I had seen Leah standing by the mic table I was going to go over and see her. She was my friend. Why wouldn't I go see her? What I didn't expect was how my heart skipped a beat at her reaction to my outfit.

I had leaned down behind her and whispered softly in her ear for some help. I could see it through her body's reaction that she recognized my voice, as her shoulders instantly relaxed. She turned around to face me with a smile on her lips, which quickly changed to a very surprised expression as she saw me.

I watched as her eyes widened and trailed up and down my body, very blatantly checking me out. I don't think that she realized that she was doing that though, or else she would have been blushing hardcore by now.

_I love it when she blushes,_ the thought unwillingly popped into my mind. I quickly pushed it away, almost missing how her eyes had stopped on a certain area of my body. I could almost feel the heat starting to rush to my cheeks when I realized what she was looking at.

"Enjoying the view?" I chuckled, trying to draw her attention away from body and back up to my face. Her eyes snapped up to meet mine before instantly looking away as a red blush blossomed on her cheeks.

_So adorable,_ I sighed inwardly.

"Could be better," she suddenly replied, oddly calm. She finally looked back up at me with an expression that matched her words. All trace of her being embarrassed was gone from her face.

_She's pretty good at covering her emotions quickly, _I noted to myself. She suddenly blinked, as if she had gotten lost in her thoughts for a second. _Had she been thinking about me? What did she mean by "could be better?"_ I knew that I wasn't the most attractive or toned guy out there, but I was pretty proud of how in shape my body she not like how I looked? Maybe I wasn't attractive enough for her to like me...

"Oh," I replied softly, quickly looking away for a second.

_Why do you care? _a part of me questioned. _Why should it matter if she's not attracted to you? Didn't you say that you're not into her? Or are you?_

_I don't know..._ I frowned inwardly. _Stop it, Christopher! You need to be professional here! _ I quickly covered my emotions and looked back at her with a slight smirk.

"So, are you going to help me or not?" I asked, motioning towards the mic pack that I still held in my hands. She quickly nodded, taking it from me.

"Turn around," she ordered. I couldn't help myself. I gave her a sly grin, making her roll her eyes at me, before I turned around.

"I have to unzip you a bit to get the mic pack into your mic belt," she said slowly. "Is that okay?"

I suddenly involuntarily tensed up. If she unzipped me, that would mean that she would see my bare back, my bare skin. I didn't like anyone seeing my bare body, making sure to keep fully covered whenever there were photographers around. Although I was happy with my body, I was still a bit self conscious about it. I wasn't the kind of person to just pull off my shirt and show off my abs to the world. But this wasn't for the world. This was for Leah.

Realizing that she was still waiting for my response, I stiffly nodded, though my thoughts were still in a panicked frenzy. What would she think of me? Would she think that my skin was too pale? Too ugly? Blemished? Would she be repulsed by me? Turned on?

Wait, what? Why would I care about that?

I suddenly felt the zipper on the back of my costume start to lower. A cool breeze swept through and blew against my exposed skin. The zipper stopped for a moment, making me panic slightly.

_Oh no! _I could feel my heart starting to speed up. _What did she see? Is she repulsed by my back? Why did she stop? _

"Umm, Leah?" I called out cautiously. "Is there a problem?"

"Nope!" she replied quickly, as the zipper started to lower again. I recognized that tone to her voice. That was her slightly embarrassed tone. Why would she be embarrassed?

_Because she was staring at my back,_ I realized. _She wasn't repulsed by it! She was checking it out! That's why she sounded so embarrassed!_

I couldn't help the smile that trickled onto my lips. Leah just couldn't stop checking me out...

Out of nowhere, I suddenly got hit with a _very _funny feeling.

_Oh crap! _I thought, my eyes widening with panic as I felt Leah working carefully to get the mic pack into the mic belt behind me. _This __**can't**__ be happening right now! Think about dead puppies! Old, saggy women doing gymnastics! Mark wearing a dress!_

By the time the zipper was done back up on my outfit, I had successfully avoided what could have been a _very_ awkward situation.

"There, all set!" Leah announced, handing me the headset, which I put on before turning back to face, glancing down quickly before I did so to make sure that everything was _all good_ down below.

"Thanks, Leah," I grinned. "What would I do without you?"

"Go on stage with your mic pack in your hand?" she joked lightly, making me smile. I loved it when she was playful like this. _This_ was the girl that I was attracted to.

_No! I'm __**not**__ attracted to her!_ I argued internally.

_You keep telling yourself that,_ my other half smirked. _We both know that you didn't suddenly get excited there for no reason_.

I needed something to take my mind off of my thoughts. Fast. That's when I spotted him walking into the wings.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up," I commented, watching Darren walk towards us. He smiled at us as he passed by, stopping at the table and picking up a mic pack.

"Be careful," I warned him. "Ryan's on a rampage looking for you."

"He already found me," Darren frowned, glancing back over at the door that he had just passed through. "And Kaley too..." He sighed as he looked down at the mic pack in his hands and absentmindedly wandered away, most likely to find someone to help him with it. I turned my attention away from him and looked back at Leah, who was smiling as she watched Darren, who had now been joined by Kaley.

"Whatcha smiling about?" I asked, making her turn her attention back to me.

"Oh, just picturing how dorkish you'll look dancing in that," she teased, gesturing towards my outfit. "I mean, one pieces are _so_ out of fashion!" I frowned and pouted my lip at her insult.

"I don't get to choose my outfits," I whined. "Cause if I did, I _most certainly_ would _not_ pick something this _tight_! I mean really! This things is _really_ tight!" I caught her smirk as her eyes gazed over my outfit again, suddenly getting that feeling again...

"Stop gawking at my amazing body and give me a hug for good luck!" I said quickly, pulling her attention away from my body again. She smiled and easily moved into my embrace, which felt _so _good. I had _never_ felt this comfortable holding _anyone_ in my arms before.

"Good luck!" I heard her mumble into my chest as I squeezed my arms a little tighter around her. "Don't mess up!"

"Oh, thanks for that!" I exclaimed, rolling my eyes at her as I pulled away slightly. "That isn't going to psych me out at all!"

"I'm teasing!" she giggled, pushing me away. Why did that sound make my insides melt? "Go! Wow your _fans_!"

I smiled and gave her a slight bow before turning away to go 'follow her orders'. I quickly took my spot behind the curtain before quickly glancing back to watch Leah walking away with Kaley.

Even if I had wanted to, I couldn't ignore the slight ache in my heart as I watched her walk away.

_What is wrong with me?_ I panicked as I turned to face forwards again. _Why am I feeling like this? I __**can't **__be falling for her!_

_... Can I?_


	6. Chapter 6: Beautiful

_____This chapter focuses on the events in chapter 21 of the main story._

* * *

Chapter Six - Beautiful

**Leah's POV**

"I'm worried about Kaley," I sighed as I watched her walk out of the room. "Since the incident with Ryan yesterday, she's been all tense and now she just looks sad and mopey."

"It's probably because Ryan doesn't want Darren hanging around her," Chris shrugged. "Darren wrote Kaley a note to let her know why he's been avoiding her, so that's probably why she's so upset."

"I just feel bad for her," I said, returning my attention on the clothes that I was hanging up on the racks. "I wish that there was something that I could do to cheer her up."

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Chris replied kind of absentmindedly.

"What are you doing?" I asked, turning towards him to see what had consumed his attention. His head was tilted down, looking at something that he was holding in his hands. I moved close to try to see what it was.

"Is that my camera?" I exclaimed, trying to make a grab for it, but he just moved it out of my reach.

"You guys take a lot of pictures," he smiled, waving the camera screen at me. "Like do you take pictures of _everything_?"

"I don't," I argued, attempting to grab the camera from him again. There were some embarrassing photos on there. "Kaley tends to steal my camera sometimes and take pictures with it. _She's _the one who takes pictures of everything. She says it's so that she can freeze the memories and be able to look at them later."

"That's cute," Chris awed. "But I think you need some memories on here too!" He suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me over beside him, holding out the camera in front of him, pointed towards us.

"Say cheese!" he laughed, clicking the button and making the flash go off.

"Chris!" I exclaimed, laughing. "I wasn't ready yet! And I think my eyes were closed!"

"Here, let's try again," he grinned, holding out the camera again. His arm tightened around my waist as he pulled me closer. I instinctively leaned my head down onto his shoulder and smiled up at the camera. I couldn't believe how natural and comfortable this felt. In this moment, it felt like we had known each other for years.

"Ok, now a silly one!" Chris announced, making a funny face. I laughed as I followed suit, sticking my tongue out at the camera. Chris pulled the camera back after it flashed to look at the picture.

"Again! Again!" he laughed, holding out the camera again. We did a couple more crazy poses before Chris came up with a suggestion.

"Hey, I have an idea that I want to try," he said suddenly.

"Ok..." I replied warily, giving him a suspicious look. "What do you want to do?"

"I want you to look at the camera and give your best shocked or surprised expression, okay?" he looked excited so I couldn't help but laugh and agree to go along with whatever he was planning. I turned towards the camera and gave my best shocked expression. I watched as Chris' finger hovered over the button, but just before he clicked it, I felt something soft brush across my cheek.

I don't think I've ever had a more genuine expression of shock in a picture before. But then again, it's a very reasonable reaction to have when Chris Colfer kisses your cheek.

I knew what it was the second he did it. But that didn't make me any less shocked by it. As my face lit up with surprise, my stomach boiled with excitement and elation. It felt like butterflies were literally dancing around inside of there, singing joyous tunes of happiness and love.

"Great picture," Chris' voice brought me back down from the clouds I was floating on. "You're really photogenic, did you know that?"

"No, I didn't," I shook my head quickly as I tried to calm my racing heart. Did that really just happen?

"I think we should take another one," I said suddenly, gesturing for Chris to move the camera back out again. "This time _you_ look at the camera."

"Okay," he grinned, turning his face away from me. "Tell me when you're ready."

_Oh, you'll know,_ I grinned to myself as I looked at the cheek that was now facing me. Could I really do it? He had done it so easily, why should it be so hard for me to do it too?

_Come on, Leah,_ I pumped myself. _You can do this. Just do it!_ Without another moment's hesitation, I quickly leaned towards him and placed my lips gently against his cheek.

I'd always thought of Chris of having a baby face, but I never expected his skin to be as soft as a baby too. The skin beneath my lips was so soft and smooth, unblemished, perfect. I barely registered the camera going off because I was so lost in the wonder of his skin.

And oddly enough, he didn't pull away.

What felt like a couple of minutes, though it may have only been a couple seconds passed and suddenly Chris was moving away from me, looking down at the camera again.

_Oh, no, _I started to panic._ What if I offended him somehow? Is it like against some sort of rule to kiss him? I've never seen fan pictures of him being kissed by a fan before... But I'm not just a fan, I'm his friend. And this is a totally typical, normal friend thing to do, right?_

"These look great!" Chris said suddenly, looking up at me with a smile that put my worried thoughts to rest. "I think that we both definitely look pretty surprised!"

_Surprised..._

"That's it!" I exclaimed suddenly, making Chris jump slightly.

"What's it?" he asked, cocking his head to the side slightly.

I looked at him with a proud smile on my face as I said, "I know what to do to cheer Kaley up."

* * *

**Chris' POV**

The way that Leah's face just lit up made my heart warm. She was beautiful. There was no denying that. She was especially beautiful when she blushed. I don't know why, but she just seemed to shine when she blushed. Maybe it was how the shy, timidness of the action made her seem more sweet and innocent, just pure and beautiful.

I was kind of disappointed that she didn't blush when I kissed her. I thought for sure that she would have, but that wasn't the only reason I did it. I wanted to see what it would feel like. Sure, I'd kissed girls' cheeks before, but for some reason I just really wanted to do this with Leah. What I wasn't expecting was for her to kiss me back.

_It kind of feels like she's returning the affection, _I beamed to myself as I quickly flipped through the pictures. We actually looked really good together. My eyes trailed down to where my hand was resting on her waist in the picture. She didn't seem to mind that I did that, which made me happy. Maybe she could have feelings for me.

_No, Chris, stop it!_ I scolded myself. _You're letting this get out of hand!_

_I can't help it,_ I sighed. _She's just so beautiful..._

I stopped on the picture where I kissed her cheek. She definitely looked genuinely surprised, but in a pleasantly surprised way.

"These look great!" I spoke up suddenly, looking up at her as a smile spread across my lips. "I think that we both definitely look pretty surprised!"

"That's it!" Leah exclaimed suddenly, making me jump slightly.

"What's it?" I asked, cocking my head to the side slightly.

Leah just looked at me with a mischievous grin on her face.

"I know what to do to cheer Kaley up," she smiled proudly.

Oh. This wasn't where I thought this was going. But, for her sake, I played along.

"What?" I asked.

"We're going to throw her a surprise party!" Leah exclaimed happily. "We can get a cake and balloons, and maybe we can convince the cast to sing to her or something and-"

"I feel like I'm missing something here," I laughed, cutting her off. "Why a surprise party?"

"Oh," Leah blushed, making my insides twitter with excitement. She glanced around to make sure that no one else was around and then lowered her voice before continuing. "Well, you see, it's kind of Kaley's birthday tomorrow."

"It is?" I raised my eyebrows in surprise, following her suit in lowering my voice. The last thing we needed was for someone to overhear and accidentally blurt the plan to Kaley. That would take the whole point out of the _surprise_ party. "Why didn't you guys tell us sooner?"

"Well, Kaley didn't really want to make a big deal of it," Leah shrugged. "It's been just me and her for a while, so we're not used to having parties. There was never any reason to. And no reason to tell anyone."

"Well of course we can throw her a party!" I exclaimed softly. "The whole cast would totally be in for singing to her, they already love you guys and it's only been what, like two/three days since we met you? And I'm sure that we could even convince Darren to take the lead on singing her _Happy Birthday_."

"That would be _perfect_!" Leah quietly squealed. "She's going to love it!"

"I'm sure that he'll do it," I replied with a smile. "They've become so close. I don't see why he wouldn't want to."

A sudden noise made us both freeze. I shot a quick glance over at Leah, who looked just as confused and suspicious as I did. I quickly took a step forward to look around behind the clothing racks that we were standing behind.

"What was-" I started to say as I poked my head out, quickly spotting Kaley. "Oh, hello, Kaley!"

"Kaley, when did you get back?" Leah asked, coming out from behind the racks as well. Her voice could have almost given us away as she sounded like as if we'd been caught doing something that we were supposed to be doing.

"Only like a minute ago," Kaley shrugged, giving us a suspicious look. "What were you two talking about?"

"Nothing!" we both blurted simultaneously. We instantly looked at each other, both of us surprised, but the moment that our eyes locked on each other's, we both broke out laughing.

"It was nothing," Leah said after a moment, turning back towards Kaley. "Just some me and Chris stuff." She gave Kaley a playful wink before casting a quick sideways glance at me, in which our eyes locked again. I could seriously get lost in her eyes.

"Whatever," Kaley rolled her eyes at us before moving over to the racks to grab some of the clothes. "Just keep it PG, guys."

I could tell that she was just teasing us, but that didn't stop the blush that crept not only onto Leah's face, but my own as well.

"Sorry about that," Leah apologized, turning back to me once Kaley had left the room. "We tend to tease each other like that all the time."

"It's no problem," I grinned. "I think that your friendship is really sweet. It's nice to have that kind of friend that you can joke around with about anything. I hope that we can reach that level some day."

I quickly turned away before I could see her reaction, afraid of how she might react to that. Leah and Kaley had a very tight, close relationship. That was obvious from the very first day when I saw how naturally she stood up for her friend against Darren. I think that that was one of the things that drew me so quickly to her. She's the kind of girl that's not afraid to speak her mind.

"I'd like that," Leah's voice suddenly cut through my thoughts, proving my point and making my heart swell. Even if nothing ever happened between the two of us, I know that I'd at least have gained a really good friend.

But friendship wasn't what I was looking for.


	7. Chapter 7: More Than Words

_____This chapter focuses on the events in chapter 22 of the main story._

* * *

Chapter Seven - More Than Words

**Leah's POV**

I made sure to wake up extra early the next morning, way before Kaley would even think of opening her eyes. There was just so much that needed to be done today.

I carefully slid out of my bed, even though I'm sure that Kaley wouldn't have been able to hear me across the hall. I debated not showering since it could wake Kaley and it would save me time not to, but then I remembered that I was going to be seeing Chris soon, so I quickly hopped through to freshen up. If there was one thing that I couldn't stand in a man, it was bad hygiene, so there was no way that I could have bad hygiene myself.

Once I got back to my room and threw on some clothes, I picked up my phone from the bedside table where I'd put it before I fell asleep last night. I already had a couple of texts.

Chris: _Darren is in :)_

Chris: _I'm guessing that you're probably asleep already, so I'll just see you tomorrow then? Text me when you're up and I'll come pick you up :)_

Chris: _Night hun :)_

Chris: _Are you awake yet?_

Chris: _**Somebody**__ likes to sleep in :p_

I laughed and rolled my eyes before sending him a response.

Me: _I'm awake, you noodlehead! I was just getting ready!_

Chris: _..._

Chris: _I am __**not**__ a noodlehead!_

Chris: _I'll have you know that my head is perfectly normal shaped!_

Chris: _Not shaped like a noodle at all_

Me: _You're such a dork :p_

Chris: _:p_

Chris: _So are you ready to go?_

Me: _Yep, I'm all good :)_

Chris: _Good, because I'm here :)_

I blinked in surprise as I read his text, quickly moving out to the living room to peek out the front window. Sure enough, there, parked in front of our building, was a sleek, black limo.

Me: _I don't think I'll ever get used to the sight of a limo picking me up :p_

Chris: _When you ride with me, you ride in style! ;p_

Me: _Haha ok, be right down :p_

Chris: _Okay :)_

I slid my phone into my pocket and very quietly moved down the hallway to the door. I peeked in through Kaley's slightly open door as I passed to find her completely passed out.

_Thank goodness she's such a heavy sleeper,_ I grinned to myself as I quickly left the apartment, softly shutting the door behind me. _Otherwise sneaking out wouldn't be this easy!_

As I headed down to meet Chris, I quickly pulled out my phone again and sent a quick text to Kaley, knowing that it probably wouldn't wake her since she puts her phone on silent at night.

Me: _Gone for breakfast with Chris :) See you at the theatre! 3 Don't be late! Haha :p_

_There, that should do it,_ I smiled to myself as I walked out of the building. As soon as I was through the doors, the back window of the limo instantly rolled down to reveal Chris.

"Hey, Leah!" he waved at me.

"Morning, Chris," I laughed as I walked over and pulled open the door. I waited as he scooted back so that I could get in before sliding onto the seat beside him.

"Oh, hi, Darren," I smiled at the nearly comatose man slumped in the seat across from mine.

"Hey, Leah," he waved halfheartedly.

"Not a morning person?" I asked with a slight smirk.

"_**He**__ literally_ dragged me out of bed," Darren replied, pointing at Chris, who just shrugged.

"I warned you that I would," Chris replied, throwing a wink at me.

"Well, hurry up and wake up!" I laughed. "We have a lot to get done before Kaley gets up!"

There was a moment's silence before Darren spoke up again.

"Why does she get to sleep in?" he whined. Chris looked over at me and gave me a look that said, "You see what I have to put up with?" I had to cover my mouth to keep the giggle from slipping out.

"Because this is _Kaley_'s special day," I reminded him. "We're doing this for her, remember?"

"I know," he sighed. "I just wish that I didn't have to get up so early. Oh, speaking of wishes, I should wish her a Happy Birthday." He started to pull out his phone, but I quickly snatched it from his hands.

"No, not yet," I said quickly. "For two good reasons. One, she doesn't know that you know, and two, we're trying to make her think that we forgot so that her surprise party is even more of a surprise!"

"Fine," he sighed. "Can I have my phone back at least?"

"Here," I laughed, tossing the phone to him before turning back to Chris. "Is he always like this in the mornings?"

"Only when he hasn't had his coffee," Chris teased. "Get some caffeine in him and he'll turn back into the lovable teddy bear that we all know and love."

"Well, we can stop and pick up some coffee on our way," I replied. "There's this cute little coffee shop right next to the party supply store, so we can stop in there before we leave. But we can't dawdle. We have a lot to do and not enough time to do it in." I pulled open my purse and took out a small notebook with my checklist of things that we had to pick up and started to go over it.

"Hey, Leah?" Chris said suddenly, making me look up at him. "Say cheese!" A sudden bright flash went off and once the black spots cleared, I sent a glare at Chris.

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying not to giggle at his silliness.

Chris smiled as well, telling me that he saw through my facade.

"I'm doing what you're supposed to with a camera," he replied. "I'm making memories."

* * *

**Chris' POV**

The room looked perfect. Leah really did have a talent for planning things. There were streamers and balloons everywhere and even though it looked like an insane mess, I knew that it had all been perfectly organized by Leah.

"Smile!" I said, coming up behind her with the camera. But before I could snap the picture, Leah quickly spun around and clamped her hand over the camera lens.

"Chris, I think that you have an obsession with taking pictures," she said very seriously. "Or, more specifically, taking pictures of me. There are other people here that you can take pictures of, you know."

I couldn't help but blush at her words. It was true. She was really the only person that I had been taking pictures of.

"I can't help it," I argued. "You're the only thing worth taking pictures of!"

Crap.

I did not mean to say that out loud.

I watched as Leah's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed with heat.

_Ok, time for damage control..._

I quickly raised the camera up and took a picture of her, flashing a huge grin.

"See what I mean?" I declared. "You have such fun facial expressions! How can I _not_ take pictures of you? Everyone else is so boring, just standing around talking, but you always take the most fun pictures! Just look at how that blush brings out the colour of your eyes."

Ok, so maybe that might have been a bit of a stretch, but I couldn't help it.

_What is going on with me?_ I wondered as Leah laughed off my explanation and proceeded to take the camera from me. _Why am I getting so flustered around her?_

"I'm cutting you off," Leah laughed as she slid the camera into her pocket. "Besides, we need to save the battery for the party!"

"Which looks like it's going to be amazing, by the way," I praised, giving her a playful wink.

Dang it! There I go again!

"Thanks," Leah blushed again. "I try."

Leah's phone suddenly beeped, making her eyes go wide. She quickly pulled out her phone and let out a small eek!

"Kaley's here!" she announced loudly so that everyone could hear. "Quickly, get into positions!" She quickly moved over towards the door, texting as she moved. She peeked out through the door before slowly closing it and moving to the light switch.

"Ready?" she asked, her hand hovering over the switch. There was a quiet murmur of agreeance before the room went dark. I carefully moved over to where I knew Leah was standing, making sure not to bump into anyone as I moved through the darkness. Once I reached her, I gently reached out and linked my arm through hers, leaning down to whisper in her ear.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"Yes," she whispered back, though I could tell that she seemed nervous.

"Don't worry," I said softly. "Everything will go perfectly. Kaley's going to love it."

"Thank you," she said suddenly, leaning into me and resting her head on my shoulder. "For helping me. It means a lot to me that you would do this."

"Anytime," I replied, moving my arm so that I was now hugging her slightly.

_And anything,_ I thought with a smile.

There was a sudden rattle of the doorknob and it felt like the whole room was suddenly holding its breath. And then the door opened and a cautious voice called out.

"Leah?"

Show time.

* * *

**Leah's POV**

The party was a huge success. Needless to say, Kaley was super surprised and thrilled.

"Are you having fun, Kaley?" I asked her when I finally got a chance to pull her away.

"Yes!" she beamed. "Best party ever!" We both locked eyes and burst out laughing at the unintentional... or maybe _slightly _intentional _Glee_ reference.

"Hey, that's _my_ line!" Darren laughed, coming up beside Kaley and lightly throwing his arm around her shoulder.

"Wait! Stay just like that!" I ordered, quickly sliding my camera out of my pocket. "This is a picture perfect memory! Say cheese!" They both flashed me huge smiles as I took the picture.

"Perfect," I smiled. "Kaley, we should get some pictures of you with some of the other cast members too!"

"Can I be in them too?" Darren asked with big, puppy dog eyes.

"You just like being in pictures," Kaley laughed, giving him a light shove.

"Hey, what can I say?" he laughed as well. "I'm very photogenic!"

That word suddenly made my heart skip a beat. That was the exact same word Chris had used to describe me, saying that I was very photogenic. The memory made me smile.

"Come on, Leah," Kaley said, pulling me out of my thoughts as she grabbed my arm. "I need my photographer!"

"Oh, so I'm just your photographer now?" I remarked with an offended expression.

"Of course not!" Kaley replied. "You're also my stylist, my agent, my chef, my party planner, my-"

"That's it! I quit!" I announced, throwing my hands up in the air.

"Oh, come on, Leah," Kaley laughed, grabbing my arm. "You know I'm teasing! You can be in a picture too."

"_A_ picture?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"And if you're really good, maybe even _two_ pictures!" she beamed.

"You're impossible," I laughed, shaking my head. "I think that all of this attention has gone to your head."

"Maybe," she shrugged, giving me a wink. "But it is _my _day, isn't it?"

I couldn't argue with her on that. So I'd just have to make sure that I milked my birthday and made her do everything for me too.

Being a nice friend, I followed Kaley around the party, snapping pictures of her with various members of the _Glee_ cast. I also snapped a few pictures of Chris when he wasn't paying attention. He was right about one thing. We were definitely making memories.

And I didn't want to forget a single one.


	8. Chapter 8: What A Girl Wants

_____This chapter focuses on the events in chapter 23-24 ______of the main story._

* * *

Chapter Eight ~ What A Girl Wants

**Chris' POV **

It seemed like the party had to end all too soon, which I wasn't too pleased about because that meant that my time with Leah had to end too. The more time that I spent with her, the more connected I felt to her… and the more these strange feelings I had towards her started to grow.

"Well, I guess I should go grab my 'boyfriend' and get ready for the show," I sighed to Leah, who looked equally as sad that the party had to end.

"I guess," she sighed as well. "But you guys are gonna come visit us between shows, right? Maybe help us with the laundry again?"

"I'd like that," I smiled.

"Me too," she smiled back, batting her eyes shyly at me. The action made my stomach do a strange flip flop.

"Well, uh, I'll see you then, uh, then," I stammered, trying desperately to keep myself from blushing. Before I could make an even bigger fool of myself, I quickly turned and searched the room for Darren, who I easily spotted (surprise! surprise!) by Kaley. I could almost swear that those two had feelings for each other but they just kept on denying it!

"Come on, Darren!" I exclaimed as I moved over towards him, linking my arm through his. "We've gotta go get ready!" I glanced at Kaley and gave her a bright smile. "See you after the show, Kaley! We're dedicating this one to you!"

It felt nice to add that little tag on the end, kind of an extra birthday present for her… Speaking of birthday presents, I'd have to come up with something that I could get her… I quickly made a mental note to ask Leah about what Kaley would like later.

"I'll see you later, Kaley!" Darren called back to her as I pulled him out of the room.

And just before we were out of earshot, I heard Leah say, "Don't you just love them?" I struggled not to blush again as I gently eased my arm out of Darren's.

"Aren't they great?" he asked me, a totally lovestruck smile plastered across his face.

"Yeah, they really are something," I agreed, trying not to laugh at Darren's expression. "So when are you going to ask Kaley out?"

"What?!" Darren sputtered, breaking out of his enchantment. "W-Why would I ask her out?"

"You're into her, aren't you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"N-No!" he balked. "W-We're just friends, that's all. It's like you and Leah. Just friends."

Oh. Right. Just _friends_.

I couldn't help but sigh. That's all that Leah and I would really be, wasn't it?

"Hey, I'll catch you later, okay?" Darren said suddenly, looking at something ahead of us. "I gotta go talk to someone about something…"

Without any further explanation, Darren hurried off down the hallway away from me, leaving me to dwell in my own thoughts.

Was friendship all that there was available to me and Leah? Would the fact that I was gay be a turn off for Leah? But what if she knew that I was straight?

_Wait a second!_ my mind objected. _Who ever said anything about you being __**straight**__? You're not straight! You're __**gay**__! Always have been, always will be!_

_But why does it always have to be?_ I argued. _Why can't I have a change of heart, so to speak?_

_It's not right, _my mind rebuked. _You'd be putting yourself back in the closet!_

_Or maybe I'm just leaving the house all together! _I stated firmly, quickly pushing away any other objections that my mind could throw at me. My mind was made up. I needed to see if these feelings that I had for Leah were genuine or not. And there was only one person who could help me with that.

I quickly made my way back to the black box, hoping that the person that I was looking for was still there. As I got closer, I suddenly heard a beautiful voice singing, a voice that I very quickly recognized.

_That's Darren's mystery girl! _I realized excitedly. If I could discover who she was, maybe Darren would finally be able to bring himself to chose between a girl with a nice voice and a girl who he had obvious chemistry with.

I slowly crept towards the open door of the black box and peeked in. And to my surprise, I recognized not only the song she was singing, but also who the voice belonged to.

_Cause I'm _

_The Greatest Star_

_I am by far!_

_But no one knows it_

_Wait!_

_They're gonna hear a voice_

_A silver flute _

_(hoo ho hoo, hoo ho hoo)_

_They'll cheer each toot_

_(Hey, I heard it's terrific, hmm)_

_When I expose it_

_(Now can't ya see to look at me that)_

_I'm a natural Camille_

_As Camille I just feel_

_I've so much to offer_

_(Hey, listen kid I know I'd be divine because)_

_I'm a natural cougher _

_(ahoo, ahee, aheh) _

_Some ain't got it, not a lump_

_I'm a great big clump of talent_

_Laugh!_

_(Ha ha ha ha!)_

_They'll bend in half_

_(Did you ever hear the story about the traveling salesman?)_

_A thousand jokes_

_(Stick around for the jokes!)_

_A thousand faces_

_I reiterate _

_When you're gifted, then you're gifted_

_These are facts_

_I've got no axe to grind_

As she was singing, I couldn't help but be drawn farther into the room, so close that I was now standing behind her. And yet she hadn't even noticed that I was there until she suddenly backed up into me.

_Well, if you want to make an entrance… _I thought with a slight smirk before opening my mouth and continuing the song for her.

"_Hey, whaddaya blind?!_" I exclaimed, watching amusedly as she spun around to look at me. I smiled as I continued to sing. "_In all of the world so far, I'm the Greatest Star!_"

"Yes, you are," Kaley laughed, a smile spreading across her lips. Her happiness was contagious as I felt my heart swelling with happiness and pride.

"Dang, Kaley," I exclaimed suddenly. "I didn't know that you could sing! And not only do you have an amazing voice, you're _the_ voice!"

I just couldn't believe that the two girls that Darren was struggling to choose between were actually the same person. And that that person was Kaley! This discovery just made my determination to get them together that much stronger.

"I'm sorry?" Kaley said, furrowing her eyebrows at me in confusion. "The voice?"

"Yes, we-" I started to explain, but I was quickly cut off as Darren suddenly burst in through the door, gasping for breath.

_Perfect timing, _I thought with a smile.

"Where. Did she. Go?" he panted, leaning against the door frame as he tried to catch his breath.

"Who?" Kaley asked, still confused.

"The girl. Where did. She go?" he repeated, still out of breath. "I must. Find her. I have to. I need to."

"Easy, Darren!" I exclaimed, quickly moving to his side to try to settle him down so that I could tell him the news.

"I have to tell her how amazing she is!" he told me anxiously.

_I think you just did,_ I smiled to myself knowingly. But, before I could reveal my newfound knowledge, Kaley was suddenly pushing past us out of the room, only mumbling a quick apology in response to her actions. Darren was seemingly unphased by her actions, too lost in his thoughts about his mystery girl to notice.

But _I _noticed. I noticed the slight hitch in her voice as she mumbled, "sorry". I noticed the tension in her posture as she practically ran out the door. She was upset.

_Well, I guess I would be too if I heard the person that I liked talk about a someone else like that in front of me, _I sighed to myself. _Man, Darren can be very blind and dumb sometimes!_

That was the moment that I decided that I couldn't tell Darren about Kaley yet. If she was upset, then there would most likely be tears involved and that wouldn't be the best setting for Darren to see her in. No, it would be best to give her some time to collect her thoughts before I reveal her secret to Darren… Unless…

If I knew Salling the way I thought I did, then it would be very likely that he would want to go to a bar on Friday night, seeing as Saturday we were being given the day off. It wouldn't be hard to convince the cast to go to a karaoke bar instead and then all I'd have to do would be convince Kaley to go up and sing with me and presto! Darren's mystery girl is revealed to him!

Yes, I do believe that that would be a _much _better plan.

* * *

**Leah's POV**

I had never seen Kaley look so devastated before. I'd seen her have crushes on guys before, but never one this serious. I'd never seen her break down like this before.

Obviously, I couldn't let Kaley stay here when she was in such a state. People would start asking questions, questions that she wouldn't be prepared to answer, so I thought that it might be best to just send her home. Darren did seem a bit disappointed when I told him that Kaley had gone home sick, but Chris seemed more suspicious than concerned. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to talk to him about it until after the second show.

"So how's Kaley feeling?" he asked me as he walked into the laundry room.

"Hopefully better," I shrugged. "She hasn't texted me in a while so I'm guessing that maybe she's sleeping it off."

_Or she cried herself to sleep,_ I thought sadly to myself. The poor girl just couldn't get a break with guys that she liked. First, her ex and now, Darren.

"It's kind of odd how she was the only one to get sick from eating cake," Chris pointed out casually as he picked up a shirt and hung it on the rack. "I mean, if you also consider the fact that she barely touched her cake, it'd almost seem a little suspicious that she got sick from it."

Wow, he was observant!

"Ok, you're right," I sighed. "It wasn't the cake. But it was personal, so I can't talk about it, okay?"

"That's fine," he grinned. "I just wanted to see if I was right."

"About what?" I asked.

"Just about why she went home, that's all," he shrugged. "I knew it couldn't have been the cake."

"Cause you're just that smart, eh, Sherlock?" I teased lightly.

"Better believe it, Watson," he teased back with a light grin.

"Oh, I'm Watson, am I?" I laughed. "Does that mean that we should go solve some mysteries then?"

"Well, we do have a lot of evidence here," he replied, gesturing around the room at all of the costumes. "We can call it 'The Mystery of the Missing Belt Buckle'."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that the best you've got?"

"Well, how about 'The Mystery of the Haunted Clothing Rack'?" he suggested.

"Lame," I yawned. "Where's your creativity?"

"I don't see you making any suggestions," he pointed out.

"Cause mine are already awesome," I grinned. "Like 'A Shadow in the Fly Gallery' or 'The Mystery of the Fallen Curtain."

"Those aren't bad," he shrugged. "But I still like my belt buckle one."

"Careful, Chris," I giggled. "Your _Kurt_ side is showing! You're too focused on the fashion and the clothes!"

"Hey, just because Kurt likes fashion doesn't mean that I can't like it too!" he argued. "I happen to think that you should dress to impress."

"Spoken like a true fashionista," I teased.

"Says the girl working with the clothes," he countered.

"Touché," I grinned. "Oh! I've got it! What about 'The Case of the Missing Fashion Sense'?"

"I think that you might be onto something there," he chuckled.

For the next hour or so, we kept throwing different ideas back and forth as Chris helped me with the laundry. He'd been doing that more often lately, coming in and helping me. It was nice because it felt like I was starting to get to know him on a more personal level. And the more I learned about him, the more I fell in love with him.

Which was why it felt so hard to say goodbye to him at the end of the night.

"You sure that you don't want a ride home?" Chris asked me as we were walking towards the exit.

"I'm fine," I nodded. "I have to stop at the corner store on the way home to pick up a few things. Thanks though."

"Ok, just make sure that you text me when you're home safe, okay?" he said seriously. "I don't think I'd be able to sleep comfortably not knowing if you made it home ok."

"I will," I told him, as a slight flutter went through my stomach. "I promise."

"Good," he smiled. "Have a good night, then! Enjoy your walk!"

"Night!" I waved after him as he turned and hopped into his limo. My heart felt a little heavier as I watched it drive away. As much as I would have loved to ride with him, I had to pick up a few things for a very _special_ breakfast tomorrow.

* * *

**Chris' POV**

I was true to my word when I said that I wouldn't be able to sleep until Leah told me that she had gotten home safely. I laid in my bed, staring at my phone, willing her to text me. I needed to know that she had gotten home safely.

And just when I was about to cave and text her, my phone finally lit up with a text.

Leah: _Hey, I'm home safe and sound! Sorry I didn't text you sooner. Found Kaley passed out on the couch when I got home and woke her up with a pillow fight :p Getting ready for bed now. Sweet dreams! :)_

Me: _Glad to hear it :) Hope you had fun! (and won :-p) Have a good sleep! See you tomorrow :) Night!_

I was about to put my phone away when suddenly I got another text. Thinking it was Leah, I eagerly opened it, but I was quickly surprised to find it from someone else.

Kaley: _Hey Chris, I've a favour to ask of you._

Me: _Ok, what's up?_

Kaley: _Well, you may not know this, but it's actually Leah's birthday the day after tomorrow (yeah we're good at keeping secrets) and I was hoping that you could help me surprise her._

Leah's birthday was in two days? I was a little put out that she didn't tell me that.

Me: _Of course! I'd love to help! What can I do?_

Kaley: _Well, I kinda wanna get her back for the surprise party she threw me, so I wanna make her think that you're mad at her or something, freak her out a bit. I don't want to do a huge surprise party like she did for me cause I don't want to copy her, but if you wanted to jump out and surprise her or something?_

Me: _What if we made a giant cardboard cake and I jumped out of it or something? I've always wanted to do that. _

Kaley: _That would be __**perfect**__! _

Me: _Do you know what I could get Leah for a birthday present?_

Kaley:_ …Well, there is __**something**__ that she'd want…_

Me: _Well? What is it?_

Kaley: _Well, she's gonna kill me for telling you this, but something that she's always wanted was a kiss from you. It's ok if you don't want to, but if you'd be willing to give her a special birthday kiss, I know that it'd make her day._

I think my heart nearly stopped. Leah wanted a kiss from me?

Me: _Sure, I could do that. _

Of course I could do that!

Kaley: _Awesome! Thanks for being such a sport about this! This'll make her day for sure :)_

Me: _I'm happy to help :) So is there anything else you need me to do for Operation Payback?_

Kaley: _Operation Payback? Haha I like it! :-p And yeah, if you could like ignore her completely for the next couple days, like not text her back and kind of avoid her at the theatre, I think that it'd really freak her out and make her unsuspecting of what we're planning. _

Not text Leah? Ok, this was going to be a bit harder than I thought. But if it resulted with me getting the chance to kiss Leah, then it'd be worth it, right? Because maybe once I've kissed her, I'd finally be able to figure out _exactly_ how I feel about her.

Me: _I'm in. _

Kaley: _Then Operation Payback is a go! :-p _

_Operation Payback? _ I mused. _Or Operation Kiss-The-Girl?_


End file.
